Wechselbalg
A Wechselbalg (VEKH-sel-balkh; plural: Wechselbälger; Ger. "changeling") is a -like Wesen that appeared in The Killing Time. Folklore According to Grimms' Dictionary, Wechselbälger were the supposed explanation in the middle ages for birth defects and mental developmental disorders. Early Germans believed a demon had exchanged their real child for a Wechselbalg, which was the child of the Devil and any of the female spirits in the wilderness. Even in the late 1800s, many Europeans still assumed any disfigured child with a severe mental disorder was a Wechselbalg. It was said that Wechselbälger had fat heads, fat bodies, and skinny legs, and did nothing except eat and drink. They were considered ill-mannered and aggressive. The real human children were assumed to have been kidnapped and raised by dwarves in the mountains. Exorcists were said to have been able to make the original child reappear in a Wechselbalg's place by either making it laugh or by being especially cruel to it. The legends about Doppelgänger stemmed from reports of encounters with Wechselbälger. According to the legend, if you met a person who looked like you, something bad was about to happen. That "something bad" was that you would die. Appearances Wechselbälger are rare enough that even if a kill is carelessly left for discovery by Kehrseiten, the odd mass of dissolved tissue does not even give investigators a clue of the suspect. Characteristics Wechselbälger are featureless and genderless, and look like a person made from a silvery liquid. They have 3-inch black retractable nails on each finger and thumb, which they use for killing their human victims. When the nails are pressed into the skin, the prey begins dissolving into a shapeless mass of tissue. This dissolving process is called Auflösen (Ger. "dissolve"). During the kill, the Wechselbalg absorbs its prey's entire identity, taking on its shape, voice, donned clothing, gender, and even knowledge. This makes a skilled Wechselbalg an effective identity thief. It appears to be made almost entirely of woge-hormone, and this requires the Wechselbalg to keep itself well-hydrated by drinking lots of fluid. The Wechselbälger's true appearance is visible only during a kill, and only to a Grimm. It has no distinct odor detectable by a Blutbad, making it difficult to track. Behavior The Wechselbalg's body eventually begins to decay, signaling the need for a new body. The amount of time a body lasts before decaying varies, averaging around five years. The Wechselbalg must find a new body in order to stay alive. Transition from one body to another involves multiple steps: #Transitional state (visible only to Grimms) - The body loses all distinguishing features and becomes a liquidy quicksilver form. #Woge - Digital spines emerge. #Attack - The victim's flesh is punctured with the spines and injected with an anaesthetic #Transformation - The Wechselbalg assumes its new identity. The outermost layer of skin is shed and takes on the form of the victim's clothing, though pocket contents cannot be duplicated. Physical appearance, stamina, memories, and knowledge are among the traits assumed. #Auflösen - The victim dissolves into a shapeless puddle of basic proteins. As the Wechselbalg gets older, the time it can remain in one form lessens, with a particularly old Wechselbalg only able to remain in its new form for a few hours before its body began to noticeably fall apart. Excerpts from the Grimm diaries Treatments for spine infection and dermal non-elasticity have been omitted from this excerpt. Trivia *Verfallserscheinung is German for "sign of decay" or "symptom of decline." Category:Wesen Names in German Category:Wesen Based on Myths Category:Wesen in Oregon Category:Primate Wesen